Thursday, April 23, 2009

Ijen Plateau, address

Hotel

Catimore Homestay (Jl. Jend. A Yani 32 Jl. Bondowoso, Java, Indonesia)Don't even think you can find it by yourself at the end of the road, but this strange hostel in a tiny village offers a swimming pool, all you can drink coffee and small beds for you to lie over before waking up for a tour to the plateau or hot springs.

The dinner there was average and shared with all the wild insects surrending the unique light in the valley. Should be the best around ... although we arrived late at night and strated early in the morning.

Picture

Mitchell Kanashkevich is a photo-journalist, and made few years ago a photo reportage on the miners of the Ijen Plateau. His webiste and photo albums are remarkably well illustrated with fantastic stories about the plateau, and other places in Asia. Somehow he is redefining the very nostalgic notion of journalism.

Thanks to J., who pointed me out another virtual place, here another blog story about the Plateau. Ulet Ifansasti’s blog entry depicts the poor working conditions the mine.

According to Softpedia , it's the world's largest Acid Lake of the planet, and probably one of the most difficult to work at: "In 1976, 50 people were surprised inside the crater by an enormous bubble of sulfuric dioxide, which, after raising the surface of the lake, killed 11 of them by asphyxiation. The local people said it was the sacrifice asked by the volcano for offering its riches. "